Summer Reading Blog

The book I read over the summer was known as The Death of Bees, by Lisa O' Donnell. In this book Lisa O' Donnell demonstrates how the will of two sisters can hold a secret strong enough to seal to lives, in order to stay together. Much like any siblings you will ever meet, they want nothing to do with each other. They are complete opposites, considering their opposite social life and interests. Marnie is the eldest of the two and makes it clear she doesn't care for rules, and honestly is living for the moment, while Nelly the youngest of the two is extremely talented with music and spends her time reading, practicing her violin, and studying, oblivious to the world surrounding them. Although they think they hate each other, within a matter of time, all they will have is each other ( due to the early deaths of their parents ). All they share is the same house, and parents but now a secret, and they find out how much their sister means to them. Many say that you never realize what you have until its gone, but (in this case) they try to realize what they really have before its gone, keeping their faith in each other, and the two siblings together.

This theme is shown when said, "I told her Izzy was dead. ‘Well that’s torn it,’ she said. I explained to her what would happen if welfare found out. She  nodded. I told her we had to bury them in the garden."  (O’Donnell 11) Also when said " We've so much at stake right now and I can't go into Foster Care, not again, it isn't safe and who knows what would happen to Nelly, they'd probably put her in some sort of nut house with her being so weird. God I hate Foster Care, you have to share rooms with girls who nick your fags and steal your clothes. The meals are food though but i hardly saw Nelly." (O' Donnell 28) This demonstrating that the would bury their own mom (Izzy) to avoid Foster Care and still be able to see each other. Plus this shows how the older sister Marnie (the narrator for this quote) thinks her sister is very different and weird but is willing to sacrifice anything in order to stay together, considering they now have no guardians or parents. 

Marnie is a very complex character due to her collision between her thoughts and actions throughout the novel. Marnie is known more as a rebel, due to her drug and tobacco use, her aggressive collaboration between her and other kids her age, and her daily appeal and attitude. Plus considering all of those, she continues to get straight A's in school. She interacts with other characters by pertaining in those activities and partying; just about anything shes not aloud to do, she partakes in. Due to her attitude of  "My way or no way" the sisters were able to stay together without being separated. This attitude created the idea of burying the parents in the back yard so they wouldn't be separated and taken away to foster care, helping bond the two sisters and develop a strong theme. This is shown when Marnie states "Hes making it too easy to stay and this makes it harder not to tell him what we're hiding in the garden." (O' Donnell 80) Lastly Marnie also is complex due to how she changes to keep the secret of her parents death, meaning she needs to become less suspicious to the public eye. This shows a few ways on how Marnie herself devolved the theme.

My article is about how the sisters at a young age were put in a rough situation, in which they had to survive. Luckily their neighbor took them in and both him and the siblings concealed unthinkable secrets, creating a safe heaven for the both of them and a good team. The Death of Bees Article

 http://youtu.be/0bM4V25D8FY